Dennis Lim
Wild Palmes
Dennis Lim on the 66th Cannes Film Festival
June 2013
IN THE EYES OF MANY, Steven Spielberg’s jury did the right thing—or, rather, the correct thing—awarding the Palme d’Or to Abdellatif Kechiche’s critically lauded lesbian drama, Blue Is the Warmest Color. Spielberg, who showed his … READ ON
FILM
Matías Piñeiro’s Viola
FILM
June 2013
WITH A GROWING NUMBER of hybrid films drawing on the restless energies of documentary, the Argentinean writer-director Matías Piñeiro stands apart for asserting the latent possibilities of drama. Over four wholly distinctive films, Piñeiro… READ ON
IN PRINT Summer 2013 [TOC]
Pablo Larraín’s No
FILM
February 2013
THREE TIMES in Pablo Larraín’s No, René Saavedra, an advertising executive in 1980s Santiago, unveils a pitch to his clients. René (Gael García Bernal) is a young hotshot with a then-fashionable rattail and a soothing boardroom manner,… READ ON
IN PRINT February 2013 [TOC]
What’s Up DOX?
Dennis Lim at the 10th CPH:DOX
December 2012
JUST A DECADE OLD, the Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival—more commonly known as CPH:DOX—already occupies a sizable footprint on the European festival landscape. This ambitious, outward-looking event now boasts multiple … READ ON
FILM
Rome If You Want To
Dennis Lim on the 7th Rome Film Festival
December 2012
FOR THOSE WHO FOLLOW this sort of thing, the recently concluded—and newly rebranded—Rome Film Festival doubled as a case study in the ambitions and contradictions of such events today. Seven years into its existence, this upstart … READ ON
FILM
Gold Standard
Dennis Lim at the 50th edition of the Viennale film festival
November 2012
THE VIENNALE TURNED FIFTY THIS YEAR, and as befits an event that shuns red carpets and festival politics-as-usual, it did not make too big a deal of the milestone. While Vienna’s international film festival is not above populist concessions—this… READ ON
FILM
António Reis and Margarida Cordeiro
FILM
June 2012
INCUBATED ON THE LITERAL and figurative margins of Europe, Portuguese cinema can often seem a world unto itself, a semiautonomous territory that evolved at its own pace and at a productive remove from the rest of the continent. The lost years… READ ON
IN PRINT Summer 2012 [TOC]
Elephant in the Room
Dennis Lim on the 65th Cannes Film Festival
May 2012
A TUMULTUOUS CANNES FILM FESTIVAL, marked by constant downpours and frequent boos, ended with the restoration of order. For the most part, the decisions of the Nanni Moretti–led jury were a vindication of recent history and the critical … READ ON
FILM
Clear and Present
Dennis Lim on The Devil, Probably
April 2012
ROBERT BRESSON DIED IN 1999, leaving behind only thirteen features, an unyielding corpus that has been held up to renewed scrutiny since his death and yet never seems to fully give up its secrets. This is as it should be: Bresson made films… READ ON
FILM
Eye of the Tiger
Dennis Lim at the 41st International Film Festival Rotterdam
February 2012
ONE YEAR after marking its fortieth anniversary with an expanded edition (tagged “XL”), the 2012 International Film Festival Rotterdam flaunted a slimmed-down profile. This accelerated cycle of binge and purge surely had much to do with… READ ON